MEMORIAL DAY : TO OUR REAL JOCKS IN UNIFORM, THANK YOU...

...for keeping it real in spite of an absurd ban, which now eases but only slightly. All in good time. MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND is yours, both for those fallen and those felled by lack of respect for the WHOLE man. Politics aside, THANK YOU, for serving, for honoring, protecting, defending and being there for your country and for all of us. You are fierce, hot, brave, devoted men of great character who bring honor to your uniform, and to the very definition of a man. Many of you - a considerable number on active duty - post here. Many more of you simply read here and move on. All of you, each and every one of you, have my undying admiration and respect.

Thanks, though retired now. Like most US military, we don't talk much about the patriotism stuff; that's assumed. Being privileged to stand at attention in our uniforms and salute, while the flag is raised and the National Anthem is played is enough for most of us. It's usually the civilians & politicians who go overboard with the rhetoric. I do talk a lot about my service here online, but more about the jobs I did and skills & lessons I learned from it.

Say, didn't I see you in the Alibi gay bar recently? Isn't it goofy that their Memorial Day tradition is to do a Hawaiian luau theme, rather than anything military or patriotic? I guess they figure it'll sell more drinks, but honestly I'd find the servers hotter if they wore military uniform items instead of faux grass skirts and bad wigs.

paulflexes saidThis thread makes me wanna date a sailor for the weekend, but there's only an Army base here.

I wasn't aware there was an active Army post near Hollywood, Florida. If so, I could use the PX, and their medical facility. The closest DOD installation I remember and sometimes used was Homestead AFB, which deactivated and became a USAF Reserve base after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Or do you mean US Army Reserve and Florida Army National Guard armories?

People in the military apply for the job, just like with any other job.

It's not a job that I would want.But, then, I wouldn't want to be a fireman, a policeman, a doctor, a mortician, a waiter, or a brick layer, either.

What are "we" fighting for ?

"Support our troops" is a hollow phrase.Anyone who REALLY wants to support our troops should scream at the Congress and the White House to end those stupid, needless, senseless, endless, unwinnable wars before an additional FOUR THOUSAND American lives are lost, for nothing.

I understand that we have to have a military.But, we need to save them for situations that are winnable, and for times when we have exhausted every other possible avenue for settling our differences with other people in the world.

Just couldn't go one day..one minute to say thank you to those who put their lives in danger so you can live free.....and not interjecting your pithy feelings about it, could you? Couldn't use another forum to rant.....No matter that the day is ALSO set aside to remember people who fought in 'good wars' as you put it: WWI, WWII.etc...I guess they don't deserve your respect either....

People in the military apply for the job, just like with any other job.

Indeed. And yet, as you present yourself to all of us you write "I love being at home, furnishing my home, remodeling my home. I'm a quiet peaceful guy who laughs easily. I'm generous with compliments and like to lift peoples' spirits."

So why have you chosen to bring a far from generous dismissal of the choice of men who do feel compelled to work at something you don't care to do, and who should be respected, in spite of the sometimes disheartening realization that their superiors and your commander in chief have put them in harms way for no good reason?

No doubt, it would strike you as sentimental to discuss the role they do play in assuring that your smartly appointed home is well protected in part because they choose to be part of a system that keeps it so. So I'll save my breath.

But failing to see value in saying thanks to them, simply because an obvious observation about Washington's detachment from the reality in which these men find themselves, strikes me as uncharacteristic of anyone seeking to uplift the spirits of anyone other than themselves.

""Support our troops" is a hollow phrase.Anyone who REALLY wants to support our troops should scream at the Congress and the White House to end those stupid, needless, senseless, endless, unwinnable wars before an additional FOUR THOUSAND American lives are lost, for nothing.”

I hear ya. Life is too precious to waste. But please remember why we are in Afghanistan. I don’t think we could sit back and let the Taliban get a pass. Our war in Afghanistan does have a purpose. Besides our troops deserving honor, also remember the 2,976 people who died in the World Trade Center. They didn’t sign on for death to preserve the “American Way.”

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have to answer for the death’s in Iraq. Faulty intelligence is a cheap excuse for useless slaughter. Not an excusable, ‘OOOPS!” But our troops stayed in hell to do their duty.

It’s trite to say,”All gave some. Some gave all.” But it’s the truth. Whatever the cause was, the ultimate sacrifice has been made by millions of Americans since 1776. Many living soldiers carry their scars on their bodies, and their minds. My uncle and father carried their scars from Europe and Korea.

I read about Europe In WWII, or Afghanistan under the Taliban and thank God, and our troops, for keeping that garbage out our country.